


Perseverance: Origins - Sasha

by AttackPlatypus



Series: The Perseverance-verse [5]
Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Gen, Origin Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-27 01:22:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20751995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AttackPlatypus/pseuds/AttackPlatypus
Summary: A look back into the past when a young Sasha Banks was about to make the biggest decision of her life.





	Perseverance: Origins - Sasha

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RelentlassHuggerSquad](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RelentlassHuggerSquad/gifts), [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).

* * *

“Hey, Sash? What are these?” Bayley asked as she walked into the living room. She was holding a string of photographs like those that would print out from a photobooth.

Sasha, who was lying on the couch with her eyes closed listening to music, looked up at her wife. She squinted at the objects in Bayley’s hand before she shrugged. “Pictures?” she said, unhelpfully.

Bayley made a face. “Gee, thanks. Here I thought I was the reporter. I meant who is this in the picture with you? It looks kinda like Ruby…”

Sasha, who had put her headphones back on, sighed. She should have known better than to think she could staunch Bayley’s curiosity with a quick response. This dogged determination to never settle for less than a full answer made Bayley an excellent reporter. But could also make her a frustrating partner.

Bayley sat next to Sasha’s leg and studied the photos. They showed a much younger Sasha Banks (Bayley guessed her wife was about 18 in the photos) posing and making faces at the camera with another girl. The more Bayley studied the photos the more convinced she was about her initial guess. Ruby didn’t yet have several of her piercings, her hair was longer, and she wasn’t wearing the dark makeup she favored...but Bayley was certain it was her friend.

“I didn’t realize you and Ruby were friends back then,” Bayley said as she began to idly stroke Sasha’s leg with her fingers. She knew Sasha had grown up in Boston and had briefly known most of the crew at the Flair gym, but this seemed to suggest more of a connection that she’d thought. 

“We weren’t,” Sasha said, her eyes still shut.

“But you took the time to visit a photo booth together with someone you weren’t friends with?” Bayley pressed. She sensed there was a good story here. She’d been digging through some of the boxes of Sasha’s old stuff as part of a surprise she was planning for her wife’s birthday. Imagine her shock when she’d seen another familiar face amid all the old mementos.

Sasha sighed again. She removed her headphones and set them on the coffee table beside her before looking down at Bayley. “You aren’t going to let this go, are you?” she asked.

Bayley just shook her head.

“OK, then…” Sasha said as she held out a hand. 

Bayley smiled and crawled forward to nestle between Sasha and back of the couch. She rested on hand on Sasha’s shoulder as she looked curiously over at the other woman. “Spill,” was all she said before kissing Sasha’s cheek.

\----------

“Take it all in, kiddo,” Ric Flair said as he held the door.

Nineteen-year-old Sasha Banks did exactly that as she stepped through the door. She still felt a bit dazed at where she was. This was Ric Flair’s gym, THE Ric Flair. The former boxing heavyweight champion of the world. The nature boy, the style, profiling, limousine riding, jet plane flying, wheeling and dealing, kiss stealing son of a gun.  
  
Sasha was nobody, just a girl from Boston. Yet she was here on a personal invitation from the legend himself. Part of Sasha continued to believe this had to be some kind of mistake or a cruel joke that would be sprung on her at any moment. This last possibility had her on edge, but she kept her mouth firmly shut. Just taking the time to look around her.

The walls and floors were gleaming so brightly that it almost hurt to look at them. Everything seemed to be state of the art, something she wasn’t at all used to. Sasha trained a much smaller gym closer to where she’d grown up. Compared to that place, the Flair gym was a palace. Sasha was particularly entranced by the rows upon rows of photos that lined the walls.

She took a few cautious steps toward one of the walls, and when no one told her to stop, she studied the photo in front of her. It showed a younger Ric Flair mugging for the camera. He was holding his title belt like a waiters tray as a bottle of something Sasha assumed was champagne rested on it. She’d never actually had or seem champagne so she had to guess here.

“That was after I beat Ray Taylor in ‘89. I bet my trainer that I could beat him in less than four rounds, he didn’t believe me. So I knocked Taylor out in the first. That’s a bottle of ‘68 Dom Pérignon,” Flair said as he moved to stand beside Sasha. 

Sasha thought she’d heard this name in a hip-hop song so she just nodded. She then took a few more steps down the line, looking at more pictures. Flair kept up a running commentary for her, but Sasha was barely listening. She was inexorably drawn to the centerpiece of the wall, a golden boxing title belt. 

“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” Flair asked from behind her.

“I-...yeah,” Sasha breathed.

“Go on, take it down, try it out,” Flair said. Sasha turned around to assess how serious the man was, but when he waved her on she did just that. The belt was much heavier than she’d been expecting and she almost dropped it. But she caught it and then held it at arm’s length, studying it intently. She then draped it over her shoulder and looked down experimentally. “Looks good on you kid,” Flair said enthusiastically. 

Sasha had to work to keep her grin from spreading too far over her face. “Yeah...it’s cool,” she said quietly.

“But you aren’t interested in dusty old belts are you? Especially not that sort. We gotta get to work on getting you some of that MMA gold, don’t we?” Flair said.

That was, indeed, the plan. Sasha had grown up in one of the worst neighborhoods in Boston. She still lived there, though hopefully not for much longer. Sasha hadn’t had much going for her in life, and by all rights, she should probably have been yet another girl who never escaped the hood. But Sasha Banks had one major talent, one that could (if she played her cards right) get her out. 

Sasha Banks could fight. 

It just came naturally to her. She’d been fighting since she was a little girl, but one of the few things her parents had done for her was to send her to a fighting gym when she was a teen. They’d been hoping to not have to deal with the trouble that came from her belligerence by doing this, but they’d also inadvertently shown Sasha the path she meant to follow as an adult. 

Sasha had been a truly terrible student in high school. The fact that she had graduated at all was more a testament to her school’s wish to be rid of her than anything. Sasha didn’t think she was stupid, she just felt like almost everything the school was trying to teach her was pointless. Besides this, Sasha had worked two jobs throughout high school to save the money so the second she graduated she could get her own place. And all through this time, she trained.

Sasha already had accumulated two black belts and reached Silver Gloves III in Savate. She intended to accumulate more qualifications as well, but her currents set had served her well. Sasha was a perfect 4-0 as an amateur fighter despite her young age. But more than the number of wins had been how she’d earned them. Sasha had hardly broken a sweat in any of her fights to date, almost casually dominating her opponents. And that level of success had begun to attract all the right attention. 

Sasha currently had three offers from MMA teams looking to sign her. The kind of money they were offering wasn’t large by the standards of the sport as a whole, but to a kid like Sasha, it was life-changing. With the stroke of a pen, she would make more than her parents could hope to in three years. When she’d received her first offer she’d been sorely tempted to give in to her impulse and sign it right away, lest the money vanish. Then, Ric Flair had entered the picture.

To Sasha’s surprise, the boxing legend was not only involved in MMA (apparently his gym was transitioning to the sport) but he was after her. Even more surprising was when he’d started giving her advice as though he weren’t one of the people trying to sign her. He’d cautioned her against signing with the first people to offer her money as though he’d somehow known exactly what she was thinking of doing.

Sasha was brought out of her thoughts by Flair. “Hey! Lottie! Come on over here for a second!” the man shouted to someone across the gym. Sasha turned and watched as a girl about her age trotted across the gym toward them. She was a great deal taller than Sasha and probably outweighed her by twenty pounds. Sasha noted these things automatically as she always did, sizing up how she would go about fighting the other girl.

She knew who this was, of course. How couldn’t she as someone involved in the Boston MMA scene? This was Charlotte Flair. Almost from the moment that Sasha’s first opponent had dropped unconscious to the mat, she and Charlotte Flair had been linked. The taller girl was the ‘other’ rising star on the women’s side of Boston MMA. Or that was how Sasha thought of her.

To the world at large, however, Charlotte Flair was a princess from a royal dynasty. This was proven by the nickname the other girl had picked up along the way, she was almost universally referred to as ‘Genetically Superior’. From Sasha's point of view, it seemed as though the other girl got the benefit of every doubt. People just assumed she was going to be great and treated her that way without Charlotte having to work. 

By contrast, Sasha was viewed as the upstart anomaly. A kid from the bad part of the city who had the nerve to try and fight her way out. Sasha knew that at a sizeable part of the community saw her as a kind of novelty, a classic rags to riches story they could ‘aww’ over. She knew that many of these same people didn’t take her seriously, especially when compared to Charlotte Flair. They were just waiting for the day when, inevitably, the two girls faced each other and the ‘Genetically Superior’ Charlotte Flair put the upstart in her place.

All this flashed in Sasha’s mind as the other girl made her way over to them. She didn’t say anything however, just keeping her face neutral when Charlotte came to a stop beside them. “Lottie, this is Sasha Banks, you know each other right?”

This was the first time Sasha had ever been up close with the other girl, and she took this chance to study her. She knew that Charlotte would be doing the same. The blonde was certainly very physically impressive, she was almost as tall as her father had very well-muscled arms that made Sasha envious. But she could always take refuge in the thought that, however athletic Charlotte might be, a rich girl like her could never be as tough as someone from the hood like Sasha.

“We do,” Charlotte said, stiffly. She was looking at Sasha with an expression that wasn’t quite a glare, but it certainly wasn’t friendly either. Sasha simply stared right back, though she felt intensely awkward. Neither Flair spoke for a few moments, clearly expecting Sasha to say something, but she didn’t.

It was the elder Flair that broke the silence. “Lottie, I’m trying to convince Sasha to sign with us here so make sure you’re extra friendly.”

Charlotte Flair’s expression made plain what she thought of this idea but she nodded anyway and gave her father a forced smile. “OK, can I get back to work now?” she asked.

“Right you are, darling. Back to it, send Ricky over would you?” her father answered. Charlotte gave him another smile that Sasha found hard to read. The blonde then gave Sasha a curt nod before walking briskly away.

“Ricky Steamboat is our head trainer, a good man. I’m going to ask him to put you through a workout here soon if you’d be willing,” Flair explained.

“Yeah, cool,” Sasha said. She’d come here expecting something like that and thus had arrived with her gym bag.

“The locker rooms are over there, go get ready and I’ll meet you out here in a few minutes. Sound good?”

“Yep,” Sasha said as she turned and walked over to the doors he’d indicated. Settling on a bench she opened her gym bag and began to change. She stopped abruptly when the door to the locker room opened again and another girl entered. This wasn’t Charlotte Flair, this girl was about Sasha’s height, had long black hair and dark eyes. Sasha got the impression she was one of those white girls who was a goth, though the other girl wasn’t dressed like it.

“Hey,” she said as she took a seat on the same bench as Sasha. 

“Hey,” Sasha answered. They both ignored each other after that as Sasha changed her top and the other girl pulled some tape from a locker. Sasha was about to stand up when the door opened again. This time it admitted a tiny girl with long blonde hair. Sasha was not a taller woman, but she guessed she might be several inches taller than the newcomer. Aside from her lack of size, what stuck out most about the new girl was her energy. She seemed to radiate a kind of nervous buzzing energy. Sasha guessed she probably had a real problem sitting still for any length of time. 

“Hey, Rue!” the blonde said happily to the dark-haired girl. Sasha was only watching out of the corner of her eye but the dramatic change this simply greeting brought about in the dark-haired girl made her take notice. Where she’d formerly been glowering to herself, now the dark-haired girl was absolutely beaming. 

“Hey, Liv! How are you?” Sasha was surprised by this response as well. The girl’s voice had jumped several octaves from when she’d grunted at Sasha. 

“OK…” the blonde said as her eyes fell on Sasha. Conversation stopped at that, making Sasha want to grind her teeth. She could just tell the other girl was judging her and she didn’t mean to just take it. “Who are you?” the blonde asked bluntly.

Sasha forced herself to take a slow breath, reminding herself that this was Ric Flair’s gym and maybe her future employer. “My name is Sasha Banks,” she said flatly as she stood and looked directly at both other girls. She’d expected some sort of negative response and wasn’t disappointed.

Both of their faces fell at Sasha’s name. Neither said anything, however, as Sasha pushed past them. It was only as she reached the door that she heard one of them whisper. “That’s the girl Charlotte was telling us about.”

Sasha’s teeth were clenched so tightly that she inserted her mouth guard as she left the locker room. True to his word, Ric Flair was waiting for her. Sasha was glad because she wanted the distraction. 

“You look marvelous, darling,” he said. Sasha was somewhat nonplussed by this response as she frowned and looked down at her outfit of a ratty t-shirt and worn leggings. Before she could comment Ric waved her toward the nearest ring. Standing in it was a man who, to Sasha, seemed older than Ric with a leaner build. “That’s Ricky Steamboat, our head trainer.”

Sasha looked up at him, but she didn’t speak. She thought she’d heard of Steamboat before but she couldn’t remember what. Steamboat didn’t speak either as his gaze swiveled onto Sasha. She shuffled uncomfortably under his look, she felt as though she was being scanned to her soul by those eyes. 

Even Sasha wasn’t sure she wanted to look at what was in there.

“Get on in there,” Flair said jovially. Sasha moved mechanically forward. To her extreme embarrassment, her foot slipped as she walked up the steps. She caught herself quickly but couldn’t help but notice Charlotte Flair standing across the gym looking at her. The taller girl was flanked by the girls Sasha had seen in the locker room. These two seemed to be sniggering but Charlotte Flair was just gazing impassively. Schooling her face into a grim mask, Sasha hurried into the ring and came to stand in front of Steamboat. 

“We’ll keep it simple…” the man said as he raised two padded hands “...simple one-two-three sequence to start with.” Sasha nodded, she’d done this so many times it was basically a mindless task for her. But part of her was annoyed by this, she was Sasha Banks and they were starting her with the stuff you taught someone the first time they boxed?

The word ‘one’ had just left Steamboat’s mouth when Sasha’s fist crashed into the pad on his right hand. His eyes widened slightly at the force of the impact but before he could even form the intent to say ‘two’, Sasha was off and running. Striking had always been her favorite aspect of MMA, she’d learned the wrestle and she was good at it. But nothing compared to the satisfaction she felt when she could simply uncork her fists and feet on someone. 

The workout went on for about half an hour. Throughout that time was very obvious that Steamboat was quite surprised just how ferocious she was. She breezed through all the drills and tests he offered her with casual ease. By the time he called a halt Sasha was actually a little annoyed by how easy it had been. She was offended that they hadn’t offered her anything more challenging. But she forced this feel back down, she was here to impress after all.

Ric Flair gave her an unironic round of applause as he stepped into the ring. “By God, she’s a natural, ain’t she Ricky?” Steamboat didn’t answer beyond a nod but this didn’t seem to dampen Flair’s spirits. “Now, I had planned to ask you to do some light sparring with Lottie but it seems she’s snuck off on us. 

Sasha looked around and saw that the tall girl had indeed vanished. So had her friends. The gym was busy enough with people working out and some that were clearly training, but Sasha and Ric were alone in the center now that Steamboat had left the ring. She suddenly felt very self-conscious standing there, eyes on her, next to a legend.

“Yeah, too bad…” was all she managed to mutter. Flair either didn’t notice her awkwardness or simply chose to ignore it.

“Why don’t you go get cleaned up, I think I’ve seen enough from you. How would you feel about letting me take you out to dinner so I can really give you the sales pitch about joining my team?” Flair suggested.

Sasha was immediately cautious, she wasn’t stupid and knew what it usually meant when older men wanted to ‘have dinner’. But she had to admit that Flair’s obvious charm wasn’t completely wasted on her and besides, she liked the idea of someone like him having to try and impress her. Then a potential problem presented itself to her mind, one that already had her very frustrated.

“When?” she asked.

“How does tonight sound?”

“_ God damn it!” _Sasha raged internally. Outwardly she was more tactful. “I’m sorry, Mr. Flair, I can’t. I...have to work…” Sasha just barely stayed ahead of her bills most of the time (a major part of why she was so excited to sign) and right now she simply couldn’t miss a shift. 

“Well, first, let’s have none of that ‘Mr. Flair’ nonsense. Not from my future fighter. Let’s stick with Ric, OK? Second, it’s quite alright. I appreciate someone who takes their job seriously. We will make other plans.”

Sasha nodded her head eagerly. “Yeah, sure, uh-...Ric. I’ll get my schedule tonight and I can tell you then.”

“It’s a date,” Flair said with a grin.

\----------

“God damn it!” Sasha swore to herself as she stared at the scene in front of her. “What kind of a FUCKING little shit POOPS in a ball pit?!”

Sasha worked at Chuck-E-Cheese. She hated every second of it, but it was the job that best suited her schedule. Most of the time...not tonight, however. Tonight she could have been out somewhere eating fancy food with a fighting legend who wanted to throw money at her. Instead...here she was.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” she snarled as she set down the yellow ‘cleaning’ sign and dragged her cart toward the ball pit. Her manager had found her in the back, where she’d been hiding out pretending to be taking reservations on the phone. 

“Banks!” her boss, a sniveling petty little tyrant named Simon Gotch barked. Gotch was a short man who seemed to view the authority he wielded over his mostly teenage workforce as some sort of compensation for his stature. He ran the Chuck-E-Cheese as though it were his own piss ant little kingdom. It was one of Sasha’s most cherished fantasies that, if someday she was very wealthy, she would buy this shit hole just for the privilege of firing Gotch and then making him watch as she bulldozed it to the ground.

“Yeah, Simon?” Sasha had asked, making no effort to disguise how disinterested she was.

“That’s MR. GOTCH to you!” Gotch snapped. He glared at Sasha for a moment before he spoke again. “Some kid shit in the ball pit, get out there and clean it up!”

Sasha blanched. “Are you fucking serious?” she demanded.

Gotch growled. “Watch your language! You will show me the proper respect or you’re out of here. Now get out there and clean it up!”

So here Sasha was, scowling dangerously at the ball pit. She would have to essentially empty it ball by ball, dumping them into the cart she’d brought until she found...what she was looking for. She’d then have to clean the pit itself, then take the balls to the back and wash them, then put them all back. And there was no way in hell Gotch wasn’t expecting her to get this done before he’d let her leave. Sighing, she set to work.

Sasha was feeling as though she would need to shower for hours to ever feel clean again. She’d found far more than poop at the bottom of the ball pit. She’d just finished dumping all the balls into a soaking tub and returned to the floor when one of her co-workers hailed her.

“Hey, champ!” someone shouted at her. This was the nickname her co-workers used for her. Some of them meant it kindly, others, ironically.

“Yeah?” Sasha asked dully as she sprayed one of the arcade games with cleaning spray and wiped it down.

“Someone’s here to see you.”

“Hey! There she is! The working gal!” Ric Flair called out as Sasha approached the dining area. 

Sasha’s face immediately flushed red. She tried to keep under wraps where she worked. Now, here was Ric Flair of all people, looking at her in her stupid uniform. Worse, his daughter was sitting right next to him. Sasha would have given anything she had to have not had Charlotte Flair see her here. But there the blonde girl was, once again seeming to study Sasha like a bug under a microscope. Her face burned even brighter as she cleared her throat and finished closing the distance.

“Mr-...Ric, nice to see you tonight. Why...why are you here?” she asked.

“We’re hungry! Thought we’d try out your offerings!” Flair boomed. He was already attracting attention from people around him. Some were just looking because of his volume but Sasha saw several people who clearly recognized him. 

“Uh...OK, let me go get you a food staff…” Sasha said as she turned to make her retreat.

“Nah, Nah...I talked to the manager...the guy with the Mustache.”

“Simon?” Sasha sighed.

“Yeah, that’s him. Asked if you could take care of us and he said you would! Lookee here, we’re having dinner after all,” Flair said jovially, as though nothing could be better than a Chuck-E-Cheese dinner.

“OK...uh...what...what can I get you?” Sasha asked. She’d never worked in the restaurant before, but how hard could it be?

“What’s good?” Ric asked, with every appearance of honesty.

Sasha blinked. Where did he think he was? “Nothing, probably,” she said honestly.

This drew a snort from further down the table. It was then that Sasha noted for the first time that the dark-haired girl from the locker room was also there. She was sitting behind Charlotte Flair and looking at Sasha with much more interest than she head earlier in the day.

Ric seemed to find Sasha’s remark to be extremely droll because his laughed boomed heartily. “Alright then, what’s the least terrible?” he asked.

Sasha shrugged again. “People seem to like the pizza?”

“Bring us two of those then, one pepperoni and one cheese, just how Lottie her likes it!” Ric said happily. If her expression was anything to go by, ‘Lottie’ didn’t like it at all. But Sasha nodded and walked away. 

“Yo, you know Ric Flair?” one of her co-workers asked as she walked back to the kitchen.

“Yeah, he might be my boss soon,” Sasha said, casually.

Fifteen minutes later she was balancing two pizzas on her hands as she walked back toward the Flair’s table. She noted that they’d been joined by another person, a man who looked like he was in his mid-twenties. He could have been one of the younger versions of Ric Flair Sasha had seen in the photos come to life. He was sitting with his arm around the dark-haired girl and talking with Charlotte Flair.

Sasha guessed this was Reid, Flair’s son. He was also something of a fighting prodigy and the centerpiece of his father’s gym and team. She’d never met him but he seemed to have all of his dad’s charisma. Sasha was especially interested to see the effect he had on his sister, Charlotte Flair was looking more animated than Sasha had ever seen her. She realized she was staring so she shook her head and walked forward before clearing her throat.

“Hey! There she is again, and look she comes bearing gifts. I do thank you kindly, darling,” Ric said as Sasha set down the pizzas in front of them. “Hey, how about some drinks?” he asked next. He was still beaming but Sasha fumed at herself realizing she should have taken their orders right away. She took them now but, as she was returning with a tray, a pair of kids ran directly in front of her. She felt herself overcorrecting, tipping, and then...crash.

“Banks!” 

“God damn it…” Sasha muttered as she rubbed her backside. Here it comes.

“Just what are you doing? And when we have a guest like Mr. Flair here!” Gotch was spitting as he stormed toward her. He ranted more as he stopped over her but Sasha didn’t hear him. There was a sudden rushing in her ears as her temper finally snapped.

“You know what, you can shut the FUCK UP!” Sasha roared right back at Gotch who, for once, was speechless. Sasha shot to her feet and got right up into his face. “You wanna know something? Mr. Flair there? He’s here to see me! That’s right you little piece of shit! I’m going be a fucking star and you’re still going to be limp dick pussy who has to boss teenagers around to feel tough! You ain’t the boss of no one! I’m my own fucking boss now! Because I QUIT!” 

Sasha hadn’t meant to blow up to this degree. But when she’d been on the floor, sitting in soda, she’d shot a glance over to the table. Charlotte Flair was looking away primly, but somehow this had just made Sasha feel angrier. All her life, Sasha had possessed a volcanic temper, something she’d inherited from her mother. And all her life, she’d tried desperately to rein it in. But when it broke free, as now, all bets were off.

Scooping up a half-full glass of soda, Sasha flung it in Gotch’s face and stormed off toward the back. She left a very painful silence in her wake in the dining area. In the back area, she snatched her coat off its hook and threw open the back door. She was halfway down the street when she realized that her bus wouldn’t arrive for another 40 minutes.

“God damn it! What the fuck, Sasha?” she cursed. Over and over she’d tried to curb this tendency in herself. She blew up, caused major damage for herself, and then had to do her best to fix it. But sometimes the blow-up was bad enough that she couldn’t fix it. She knew she wasn't going to be able to patch this up. So she could kiss her tiny ass paycheck good-bye. 

Her head began to spin then. What if she’d just blown it with Ric Flair? He couldn’t be impressed with her now. What if he then talked to the other two teams, told them what he’d seen. What if they pulled their offers too? She’d be stuck here, in this dead-end neighborhood working shitty jobs for the rest of her life. And all because she couldn’t control her fucking temper! 

Sasha breath was coming faster at these thoughts alone and her rage was boiling again. She needed to give it some release and now or she would explode. She let out a roar as she picked up a chunk of the broken sidewalk and threw it with all her might through the window of an abandoned building beside her. The sound of the glass shattering was very satisfying, but only for a moment.

“Shit! Shit, shit, shit!” she said as she looked around, hoping against hope that no one had seen her outburst. When was she going to learn? For a moment it seemed like she’d gotten away with it. But only for a moment.

“Well, I knew you could strike. I didn’t realize you had an arm too,” an amused voice said from behind her. Sasha whirled around to find herself looking at Reid Flair. It was dark out but he really was the spitting image of his father. The dark-haired girl was with him, she had an arm around his waist in a particular way that, when added to her expression, sent a very clear message to the world at large and Sasha in particular. Back off.

“What do you want?” Sasha asked. Her temper hadn’t completely abated, and her embarrassment wasn’t helping it do so. This was probably what made her voice harsher than she’d meant to sound. Another side effect of her damned temper.

The dark-haired girl stirred, but Flair just shook his head at her. “I wanted to give you this,” he said as he reached into his jacket pocket and produced a business card. Sasha looked at it but didn’t step forward to take it. She was having a hard time getting a real read on the boy in front of her. He obviously had his father’s charm but there was something...calmer about his energy. 

“What is it?” Sasha asked, just to say something.

“It’s a business card, got his personal cell on it. He says to call him whenever you want to set up your next meeting. And after tonight…” Flair said this last part with a twinkle in his eye “...Seems like you’ll probably have a lot of free time.”

“Fuck that guy,” Sasha muttered. To her surprise, this earned a low chuckle from the other girl. Flair looked down at the sound.

“Banks, I don’t know if you two met. This is Ruby Riott, she’s my girlfriend, and she’s just starting her amateur training at the gym,” he said. This made Sasha study the girl with a bit more interest. She had the steady and hard eyes of a fighter, but she was a bit scrawny. 

“Nice to meet you,” Sasha said because she couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“You should have punched that asshole,” Riott said in reply. Sasha’s estimation of the other girl rose.

“So I hear you train at Mabel’s gym? How is the big guy?” Flair asked he spoke quick enough that Sasha got the sense that he was trying to avoid further discussion on punching her old boss.

Sasha did indeed train at Mabel’s but it wasn’t really by choice. It was the only gym within walking distance from her place that had any kind of fighting set up. It was really a boxing gym but she made do. Mabel himself was pleased to have her training there because she’d brought a lot of attention to the place recently. In exchange, he rarely charged her for the use of his stuff. Maybe she’d ask him if she could get a job there now that she’d lost her old one.

“Big, slow, and scary as ever,” Sasha said dryly. Flair laughed heartily at this. His laugh, like his dad’s, could make you feel like you were the funniest person on earth. Which Sasha knew she wasn’t.

“I hear you’re really good, maybe we can train together sometime,” Riott suggested. Sasha kept it off her face but she was more than skeptical about this suggestion. Train with a rookie? Her?

“Easy there, slugger,” Reid Flair cut in smoothly. “Banks is about to go pro, and I don’t want anything happening to your beautiful face,” he told his girlfriend. He bent down to kiss her then which she returned but the whole thing felt a bit off to Sasha. 

It was something about their body language. Sasha got the sense that Flair had only cut in and then kissed his girlfriend as a gesture. Partially because he wanted to address Riott’s obvious possessiveness earlier, and partially to try and save her from herself. There wasn’t anything inherently wrong about either of those motivations but it felt more...big brotherly than romantic. And then there was the way Riott held herself, even mid-kiss. As though she were going through the motions of something she’d memorized.

Odd.

“You need a ride somewhere?” Flair asked.

“Nah, my bus will be here-” Sasha started to say, but the boy cut her off.

“Listen…” he said in a conspiratorial tone “...If you say no my old man will just keep showing up in your life. He’s after you bad, he wants you on the team. So do I. But it’ll just be easier if you just let him give you a ride with the rest of us.” As he finished speaking he looked over his shoulder at a pair of approaching headlights. “Besides, it looks like he’s on his way anyway.” 

Sasha was about to argue when she saw the vehicle pulling up beside them. It was an honest to god limo and it stuck out like a sore thumb in this neighborhood. Before she could recover it came to a stop right next to her and the door opened.

“Going our way, beautiful? Come on, I’ll give you a lift,” Ric Flair said from within the vehicle. Sasha thought about just walking away but decided, what the hell. Ducking inside she barely noticed that Charlotte Flair was already there. She was mesmerized by the luxurious interior of the car. Leather everywhere, crystal glasses in the bar, and a decent-sized TV along one wall. The floor and ceiling were done in a magenta color that pleased her eye.

She could get used to this.

\----------

Sasha awoke the next morning in a bad mood.

This partially because she was hungover, which wasn’t surprising given how much she’d had to drink the night before. 

When she’d gotten home she’d been in a pretty good mood. Ric Flair had kept her laughing and enthralled throughout the ride in his limo. But as soon as Sasha had reached her run-down apartment, she’d been smacked in the face by the reality of her jobless state. She might have enough money in savings to cover her bills for the next month but that was it. But she’d been too tired to even think about job hunting. So she’d taken advantage of the fact that the liquor store down the street couldn’t give a fuck less who they sold to if you had cash in hand and had returned with a bottle of vodka.

The bottle was half empty today.

But Sasha’s long training had hammered a routine into her body, no matter how bad she felt. So she was up at 5 AM. She threw up, twice, but then she got dressed and went for her run. This took her to her gym when it opened at 7 AM. And she’d been here since then, doing what she did every day. Honing herself into a finely tuned instrument of pain.

Sasha was jumping road when she half noticed a commotion over at the gym entrance. Mable, an enormous man whose huge girth hid the fact that he was frighteningly strong, was standing with Orlando Jordan. Sasha might have been the rising star at Mabel's but Orlando was the top fighter there. He’d been the first MMA fighter to base himself out of the place and was already a pro. He mostly fought in Boston and elsewhere in New England but there were rumors he would be on to bigger things soon.

Both Mabel and Orlando were talking with a man who was, if it was possible, even bigger than Mabel. But unlike the gym owner, this man was nothing pure cut granite muscle. He looked like he could bench press a pickup. His shaved scalp gleamed under the gyms lights as he nodded at something Mabel said. More than his physical presence, he seemed to radiate a calm serenity. 

Sasha stared for a little while as she jumped but eventually turned back to the mirror. She didn’t have time to wonder at who the stranger was. She wanted to get all her workout in before noon, so she could start her job hunt. She’d heard there was a Clex’s opening up a few blocks away, maybe they were hiring.

Sasha loved her workouts for many reasons, primary among them was that she got the satisfaction of doing something she was very good at. But another big plus was that she was able to sort of click her mind off when she did. It was the best form of relaxation she’d ever known but it could also lead to a kind of tunnel vision. Which explained how the big man was able to sneak up on her.

“Tuck your elbow in, and roll your hips all the way through, you’re cheating yourself of your true power,” a deep voice suddenly spoke up from behind Sasha. She jumped and was about to turn around and ream out whoever had spoken but she found herself staring at a shirt. So she looked up, and up. Until she found herself staring into the face of the stranger she’d seen with Mable. 

“Who the fuck are you?” Sasha demanded. She was the best damn striker in Boston, and probably beyond. Who the hell did this guy think he was?

“Bobby Lashley,” the man said calmly, giving no sign of offense.

“Good for you, not get the hell out of here I got work to do,” Sasha said as she turned back to the bag.

“Yeah, sloppy work. No wonder you’re spraying those punches all over.”

Sasha had to close her eyes and count to five. Fortunately, the incident from the night before was still fresh in her mind so it was easier to stay calm today. “Thank you...SO MUCH...for your opinion. Now can I please get back to training?” she asked in a rigidly controlled voice.

The man didn’t answer, he just walked around her to the other side of the heavy bag and took hold of it. He dwarfed it but Sasha kept her eyes on the bag and not him. “Got a temper, huh?” 

“Nope,” Sasha said through gritted teeth as she squared back up the bag. She threw two quick punches, a combo that had helped her dominate her previous opponents. She threw a click glance up at Lashley only to find him with pursed lips.

“The elbow, and the hips,” he said again in his oh so calm voice. It was becoming more of an effort for Sasha to reign in the fire she felt building inside of her.

“What are you? A trainer?” she muttered as she punched the bag again, deliberately not following his advice.

“Yeah.” came the simple reply. This brought her up short.

“Well, good for you,” Sasha grunted as she kept swinging.

“So what’s got you pissed off?” 

“Why the fuck you care?” Sasha half grunted half snarled. To her intense annoyance, Lashley laughed. “Something funny?” she demanded.

“You,” he said, again very plainly as though it were obvious.

“Go to hell,” Sasha allowed herself this tiny release of anger as a way to avert a much larger one. But her control slipped still another degree as the man laughed once more.

“Yeah, you remind me of someone who trained me. He was a stubborn ass hole too,” Lashley said as he easily held the bag. Sasha stopped short and glared at him at this remark.

“You finin to get punched, asshole!’ she shot back.

“That easy to piss you off, huh?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. Before Sasha knew what she was doing she drawing a fist back again.

“The elbow and the hips!” 

“Fuck you!” she snarled as she threw the punch straight at the bag. This time, her elbow was positioned perfectly and she rolled her hips all the way through the punch. 

When her fist hit the bag this time it did so with enough force to shift the giant back. Not much more than an inch, but it was movement. Sasha gaped, first at the bag, then at him, and then down at her gloved fist.

“Well don’t stand there staring. Do it again!”

So Sasha did. She punched the bag as she’d never hit anything or anyone before. She then let Lashley work through her kicking, elbows, and knees. He didn’t much like any of it but he offered some basic pointers and Sasha could feel the improvements immediately. She was hoping he’d teach her more when he announced that he had to leave.

“Yo, like...you coming back?” she asked him, hesitantly.

“Maybe, I gotta see Orlando again soon here,” he said. Sasha felt a bit crestfallen at this response. Of course, he wasn’t here to see her, she was stupid to have forgotten that. 

“Yeah well, see ya,” she said as she turned back toward the locker rooms, feeling much less excited than she had ten minutes ago. She sighed as she sat down in front of her locker and began unwrapping her hands.

Time for job hunting.

It turned out she didn’t get much of that done, or any really. As she was leaving she was met by two people she would never have expected. Ruby Riott and the blonde girl from the locker room the day before.

“There’s the bitch,” Riott said as she leaned against a beat-up Corolla parked on the street. She was grinning at Sasha as she said this though. 

“I heard about your dick head boss...want to go get even?” the blonde asked as she smacked on her gum. Sasha was tempted to roll her eyes at the overly cutesy vibe she was working so hard to put out, but her eyes were sparkling with the kind of hell-raising mischief that Sasha loved. Sasha spared half a moment to reflect on all the things she could be doing today. Things she should be doing. But not much more than that. She might not really know these girls, but she knew when people were looking for trouble. And she felt she could use some of that right now.

“Fuck it, yeah, let's go,” Sasha said as she strode toward the car. She through her bag in the trunk and got in the back as the others joined her. 

“I’m Liv, btw, Liv Morgan,” the blond said from the passenger seat.

“Sasha.”

“We got to get some stuff first, but I think I got a plan you’re going to like…” Riott said as she pulled out into traffic. 

“Oh, let's get something to eat!” Morgan said excitedly. Sasha was hungry but she also noted how Riott’s whole energy seemed different today. Last night she’d been all ‘back off my man’ and dutifully affectionate with Reid Flair. Today she was smiling, laughing, and seemingly enjoying every moment she could spend with Morgan.

“Where you wanna go, Banks?” Riott asked as she looked in the rearview mirror.

“Wherever I’m just hungry,” Sasha demurred.

“Rue! Rue! Let’s go to Mahals!” Morgan said, practically bouncing in her seat as she suggested this. Sasha could tell that if she spent too much time with the blonde her manic energy would start to grate. Riott didn’t seem to have this problem, however.

“Good call!” she said as she beamed and put her foot down. So, just over an hour later, Sasha found herself sitting across from Riott in an Indian place. Morgan had gone to the bathroom and almost the moment she’d left, Riott’s face had fallen into the reserved mask Sasha had seen the night before. At first, she’d been puzzled because this seemed to suggest that she didn’t like Sasha herself. Then Sasha had realized that it wasn’t her presence that Riott disliked, but Morgan’s absence.

“So...how long you two been friends?” Sasha asked before slurping through a straw.

“Since we were kids, we both sort of came to the gym about the same time,” Riott said as she pushed some of the food around on her plate. Sasha noticed that she hadn’t really eaten anything.

“How long you been training there?” Sasha asked.

“Only a few weeks, but I’ve been hanging around Ric’s place since I was eleven,” Riott explained. Sasha sensed there was a great deal of story there but she didn’t ask since she figured she wouldn't get a straight answer even if she got one at all.

“You don’t like the food here?” she asked instead.

“Nah, I don’t really like Indian food…”

“Then why did-?” Sasha started to ask but then she clammed up. She knew the answer.

“How long you and Reid Flair been together?” 

“About four months, he’s amazing,” Riott said with a tight smile. There it was again, that odd stiffness that Sasha had observed. It was though the other girl felt obligated to add the second part. 

“Uh-huh…” Sasha said, bothering to hide her skepticism “...And how long have you been in love with blondie?”

Riott spit out the drink of water she’d just taken, drawing some looks from other diners. Her expression was one that might have worn if someone had tazed her. She tried to cover this by clearing her throat and brushing at her hair as she rubbed at the water with her napkin. “What? Why would-? You’re- thats-...” she stammered but before she could finish, Morgan rejoined them.

“So, you ready to go?” she asked, Sasha noted she already had her coat on.

“We still gotta pay,” Ruby said.

“Do we though?” Liv asked sweetly as she raised her eyebrows. Sasha grinned. They were in their car and speeding away from the restaurant less than two minutes later, laughing hysterically. 

“That was amazing!” Liv cheered loudly as they sped away from the restaurant and its furious staff.

“Still down to go get some payback on your limp dick boss?” Riott asked Sasha. She seemed to have decided to pretend like Sasha had never asked her about Morgan earlier. Fair enough.

“Let’s do it!” 

“Just one stop then,” Riott said. The stop didn’t take long so they were walking toward the doors to Chuck-E-Cheese in less than half an hour. 

“You ready for this?” Riott asked Sasha as they walked.

“Been waiting for almost two years,” Sasha said firmly. As they approached the door, one of Sasha’s former co-workers called to them.

“Better watch out in there, Simon is pissed at you.”

“He’s about to be even more pissed!” Sasha said boldly. She pushed through the door and blew right past the front counter. She strode purposefully into the dining area but didn’t find her target there. So she walked toward the arcade, still no luck. It was possible he wasn’t there or was just in the back. Sasha resolved to wait.

“He’ll show, in the meantime…” she said as she looked around.

“Oh! Over there!” Liv said excitedly. She was pointing to the photo booth. They all hurried over and then spent the next few minutes taking strip after strip of pics with each other. Sasha was just emerging from a session with Ruby when she heard the familiar voice.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” Simon Gotch demanded as he beelined over toward Sasha. “You better get the hell out of here, RIGHT NOW!”

Sasha waited for him, with her hands behind her back, and let him get right in front of her. “No,” was all she said. Gotch’s nostrils flared.

“You aren’t welcome back here ever again! You get out before I call the cops!” he shouted, loud enough to cause everyone in the place to look over at him.

“You know what Simon?” Sasha asked sweetly. “I used to think you were a pathetic, sad, little man who was mad because he’d never found a woman who would touch his pinkie dick. But now I know better, you’re just a pathetic, sad, little man with no balls at all. Fuck you, you pussy!”

With that, she brought her hands out from behind her back. She was holding a can of silly string in each one and before Gotch could blink she was spraying him. Ruby and Liv stepped forward and joined in. Gotch did his best to cover his face but he took a few steps backward and ended up tripping. He tumbled down two steps and landed flat on his back as the three girls covered him in silly string. It was as her cans ran out that Sasha realized her day was about to get much better. 

  
Darting forward she snatched an object up off the ground and waved it around. “Oh my god, I fucking knew it!” she cried in triumph as she waved the toupee over her head. 

“Give that back!” Gotch shouted as he tried to scramble up, but Sasha danced back up the stairs and away from him. She was laughing maniacally as she tossed the toupee to Liv who squealed in disgust and tossed it to Ruby. She, in turn, through it back to Sasha who caught it just as Gotch lurched back up the stairs with a furious expression his silly string covered face.

“When I get my hands on you!” he screamed as she lunged for the toupee, but he was an out of shape middle-aged man. Sasha was a fighter. She easily sidestepped him and then shoved him back down the stairs where Liv and Ruby howled with laughter at him.

“Peace out, loser!” Sasha called as she and the other two girls hurried out of the Chuck-E-Cheese.

“That’s so fucking gross! Eww, just throw it away!” Liv squealed as she looked at the toupee still in Sasha’s hand. 

“No, I got a better idea! You got a lighter?” Sasha asked. Ruby dug in her jacket and tossed one to her which she flicked until she had a flame going. “Fuck you, Chuck-E-Cheese!” she shouted at the building once the toupee caught the fire. She then hurled it on the ground and raised both middle fingers to the building before retreating with the other two into the car.

They didn’t get very far, however. They were at a gas station, planning to buy some snacks when two police officers entered the store. Before Sasha was aware of this they appeared at either end of the aisle she was standing in. Before she knew it, she, Ruby, and Liv were in the back of a squad car.

\----------

Sasha was in the depths of frantic despair.

What the hell had she done?

This was so much worse than anything she’d ever done while angry. And that made Sasha feel every more despair. She’d done this while under full control. All because she’d been egged on by two girls she’d never met before yesterday!

She’d ruined it all.

She was trying to get signed by major fighting teams. None of them would want to take a chance on a rookie who couldn’t even keep from getting arrested. She’d blown her chance, it was over. Now she’d end up like Simon fucking Gotch. Stuck here forever over some god damn silly string! It wasn’t fair!

She wanted to stand up and rage at the world around her. But she knew that in a holding cell with several old drunks and a few genuine-looking badasses, that was a bad idea. So she simply sat with her knees tucked up against her chest. Liv and Ruby were sitting on the opposite side of the cell, Liv’s head on Ruby’s shoulder. But Sasha didn’t care, she blamed them only slightly less than she blamed herself for this predicament.

It was all gone, all that training and work, gone so she could set a fucking toupee on fire.

“Banks, Riott, Morgan! You’re out. Someone posted bail,” the guard called as he opened the door. Sasha blinked at unexpected tears when she heard this. She’d fully expected to have to wait much longer to be let go. She hadn’t even used her phone call because she didn’t have anyone to call.

None of them spoke, as they trudged after the guard. It was obvious that Sasha wasn’t going to emerge from this as friends with the other two. This silence only lasted until the emerged through some double doors to find themselves facing their rescuer.

“Well hey there, jailbirds,” Ric Flair said with a big grin. There had been a small crowd of people, including several cops, but they broke apart at this.

“I’m really sorry, Ric-” Liv said, and Sasha was surprised that she sounded like she was on the edge of tears.

“Nothing we have to talk about now, Liv darling,” Flair said with a dismissive wave. Before Liv or Ruby could speak, Ric held up a hand. “I need to speak with Ms. Banks here for a moment, you two head out to the car.” Both girls nodded and left, leaving Sasha to stare at her shoes. She fervently wished the ground would swallow her up right now.

“So, I talked to Mr. Gotch, hear about what happened. You’ll be happy to know he’s not pressing charges,” Flair finally said. All Sasha could do was nod. She didn’t speak for a long time, she didn’t even look up until she heard Flair talking again. “Hey Rue?...” he said into his cell “...Why don’t you and Liv take the car back to the gym? I’ll run the keys out here in a second, Ms. Banks and I gotta talk business.”

“What-?” Sasha started to ask, but Ric just held up a finger and ended the call. 

“There’s a bench next to the door here, I’ll meet you there in five minutes,” he said before he left. Sasha was tempted to just leave and find a bus, but she did owe the man. So she found the bench and sat. Just over five minutes later she was joined by Flair.

“You know, this place sure has changed since my day. Back then, it was falling apart and you didn’t dare sit on anything because you thought you’d get hep,” he said as he sat heavily beside her. Sasha was still too numb to say anything, she was just waiting for him to drop the hammer.

“So, this your first time in jail?” he asked.

“Yeah,” was all Sasha muttered. She’d done things that probably could have landed her in jail before, but she’d never been caught.

“I figured, you got the look about you right now. But you get used to it, though you hope you never have to,” he said.

Despite herself, Sasha was curious. “You’ve been in jail before?” she asked. She hadn’t been expecting him to burst into laughter at this, but that was what happened.

“Oh, darling, more times than I care to remember,” he said. He laughed for a while before he managed to calm himself down. “But I meant what I said earlier. I don’t want you to have to get used to it. So...some free advice from an old fighter?”

Sasha couldn’t do more than nod.

“You’re talented, kid. More talented than anyone I’ve seen in a long time. More importantly, you want it badly. That’s what separates the good ones from the greats. The greats? We want it more than anything else in the world. Not everyone does. Don’t waste that. I know what it’s like to not be sure you belong and so you feel like you gotta be tougher than everyone else around. There’s even some value in that, but don’t let it take you over.”

Sasha didn’t have anything to say to this. She’d lost the power of speech. It was as though Flair had read the inside of her soul. Maybe this was what it was like to have parents who gave a damn?

“You hear me?” Flair asked.

“Yeah, thanks,” was what Sasha managed to say in response. It felt very inadequate.

“Now!” Flair said, returning to his usually larger than life self. “Let's call a car and get you home unless you fancy some breakfast?”

\----------

Two days later, Sasha was still in a bad mood. Or maybe this was a whole new bad mood. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t been given plenty of reason to be.

The worst had happened, or nearly so. Sasha wasn’t sure how but somehow the news of her arrest had gotten out. Gotten out to a degree that two of the teams that had been courting her had withdrawn their offers via a curt email. There hadn’t even been charges filed for god’s sake! 

That just left the offer from Ric Flair. Sasha hadn’t heard from the man since he’d dropped her off at her apartment, but she also hadn’t heard anything about his offer being rescinded. Unfortunately for her, the Flair offer had always been (by far) the smallest monetarily. It wouldn’t mean the kind of security she’d been hoping for, but she guessed it would have to do.

The knowledge that she’d fucked this up for herself brought a snarl to her lips as she kicked the heavy bag in front of her hard enough that the resulting noise caused other people to look over at her. Sasha ignored them and kept punishing the bag, wishing that she could get her hands on a live opponent. But she was often the only girl in the gym, and even on the rare occasions where there were others they rarely wanted to spar with her. Too many bruises.

“You learned to punch from someone who was taller than most people, didn’t you?” 

Sasha didn’t turn around at the question. She knew who the speaker was. “Don’t you got better things to do? Orlando is here,” she said to Bobby Lashley.

“Just finished up with him. Going to be heading back to California tomorrow,” the big man rumbled as he moved to stand beside the bag.

“Good for you,” Sasha grunted without looking up as she began pistoning her fists into the bag. Lashley looked on in silence for a few moments.

“So, you learned to punch from a tall guy?” he asked. Sasha didn’t answer but he seemed to take this as a yes. It was true. “You’ve been getting by on physical talent so far. It’s let you cover up your sloppy technique. But where you’re going...or where you want to go at least, that won’t fly. Everyone is going to be gifted in the pros so you better wise up.”

Sasha’s only response to this was: “Are you done?”

“Yeah, for now…” Lashley said as he produced a business card and held it out to Sasha “...If you’re serious about fighting, and you’re half as smart as you think you are, be here again at nine tonight.” Without another word he left. Sasha was tempted to just toss the card on the ground out of petulance. But she flicked her eyes over it quickly and froze.

She may not have known who Lashley was, but she knew who he worked for.

\----------

It was a much chastened and significantly humbler Sasha Banks that waited by the doors to the gym that night. 

Lashley worked for Thuggin and Buggin.

Of course, Sasha knew about Thuggin and Buggin, and it’s owner Theodore Long. Everyone who watched MMA knew about him and his team. Long had been one of the first owners to make the jump from UFC to BFA and had brought the kind of swagger that only he could bring. Also, he was the only black owner of a team in BFA. Sasha wasn’t much for viewing herself as part of a ‘community’ be recognized how important that was.

And she’d been talking to T&B’s head trainer. No, not talking to him, being a bitch to him. When the hell would she stop doing this to herself?!

Sasha had checked too. She’d called the number on the card and someone named Cameron had answered it for Thuggin and Buggin. When she’d asked to speak to Bobby Lashley, she’d been informed that he was away on business to the East Coast. Sasha had hung up then and almost thrown her phone away from her. 

Shed show up forty minutes early to the gym. This wasn’t necessary nor was it wise, Mabel’s was in a bad neighborhood in Boston. Which was really saying something. She’d even thrown on some makeup...before she was about to do an intense workout…

Sasha really didn’t know what she was doing.

She’d been pacing a divot into the sidewalk when a car pulled into the parking lot beside the gym. Out stepped Bobby Lashley, who surveyed the area coolly before walking over to join her. “You’re here on time at least,” he said as he took a key from his pocket and unlocked the doors. 

“Mabel and I go way back,” he explained as he held the door for Sasha. She didn’t speak, she was trying to be mindful about keeping her big mouth shut. She was already dressed for a workout so she just walked mutely toward a ring before turning and looking expectant. For whatever reason, this made him frown.

Lashley put Sasha through easily the most intensive workout she’d ever had. He seemed to know everything about every style of fighting, and he was demanding. But not in the pseudo-drill sergeant, constantly screaming way that made Sasha roll her eyes. He never seemed to raise his voice or even show more than mild emotion. He just repeated himself insistently and made her do everything until she could do it perfectly fifty times in a row.

They finished up in a ring. Sasha was circling Lashley slowly, doing her best to sneak in and tag the pads he was wearing. But for a man the size of a sedan, he was surprisingly light on his feet. Sasha might have been faster, but not by the margin you’d expect. And it seemed he wasn’t having to concentrate too hard either, as she was able to hold a conversation while he moved.

“So, what’s wrong with you tonight?” he asked.

“Nothing,” Sasha said as she shot forward and hit the pad on his left hand. 

“Uh-huh, last time I was here you were ready to fight me for just talking to you. Now you’re a model student?” he asked as he took a swipe at her that she easily ducked. Part of her wanted to be pleased with being called a model student, but she knew that wasn’t the point he’d been making. There was a 'but' coming.

“I...was wrong, about that…” Sasha said though the words stuck a bit in her mouth. Sasha apologized with the frequency of Sasquatch sightings. To her chagrin, Lashley looked both surprised and a bit disappointed by this.

“Is this about your arrest?” he asked as he took two quick steps forward, forcing Sasha to backpedal and then sidestep. She gritted her teeth as she did so. Of course, he’d heard, who hadn’t at this point? She was surprised it wasn’t on TMZ at this point.

“No,” was all she said.

“Uh-huh…” Lashley said before he suddenly swung his big paw-like hand with shocking speed. Sasha just had time to perceive the movement when she got clobbered on the side of her head with a pad. The blow was enough to stagger her and was honestly harder than several actual punches she’d taken.

“What the hell-...” Sasha started to say but, though a huge effort, she caught herself “...Why did you do that?”

“Because you just did that,” Lashley answered as he took another swing at her. Sasha ducked this one and retreated across the ring.

“Did what?” Sasha asked before she was forced to retreat again as a man-mountain came clomping toward her.

“Putting on this act, why are you performing?” Lashley asked as he managed to hit Sasha's shoulder. Getting away from someone whose wingspan was almost half the width of the ring was very tricky.

“I’m not!” Sasha insisted. Maybe this was some kind of a test, she wouldn’t let herself fail it.

“What? You think you need to impress me?” Lashley asked as he came at Sasha again. This time, however, Sasha’s instincts took over and rather than dodge the kicked the big man the stomach before rolling right past him. It was like kicking a flag pole.

“No!” Sasha insisted petulantly.

“That’s it huh, what you think you’re going to get a contract out of this? Newsflash, kid, you ain't’ good enough,” Lashley said in a taunting voice. 

The ashes that Sasha felt in her mouth turned quickly to fire at this as she charged at him. She took some stiff blows from the pads but she knew she’d given far better then she’d received. Though she felt like she was hitting a brick wall she knew she’d landed many, perfect form, punches and kicks. 

Lashley let this go on for almost a minute before he suddenly ended the encounter. He did so very decisively by simply picking Sasha bodily up and setting her on one of the turnbuckles. He took a few moments to catch his breath before he spoke again. “We’re done tonight, best of luck.” With that, he left.

Leaving Sasha to sink slowly back into her despair.

\----------

The next three weeks went by in a blur for Sasha. 

She didn’t know why she hadn’t just signed the offer she had from Ric Flair. It wasn’t as though anyone else had come knocking. Maybe she was just enjoying the charade of the idea that she had some sort of choice. Flair didn’t push her however, he even let her start training out of his gym for free.

She tried to push Bobby Lashley out of her mind during this time, even as she applied the lessons he’d taught her. This was a tricky balancing act that she wasn’t really pulling off. She hoped that when she did eventually sign with Flair that she’d get a new trainer as well and that might distract her from what might have been,

One thing she knew for sure was that she had resolved to control her temper better. She’d done this before, but now she’d seen it cost her a great deal. More than it ever had in the past. She wasn’t going to let herself act so stupidly and impulsively. And she felt like she was doing an OK job of sticking to this at least. Though she was already developing some concerns

When she stripped away all the temper fueled bravado she found that she was...not very assertive. In fact, she suddenly found that the nerves of what she was about to embark on, a fighting career, threatening to overwhelm her from time to time. She knew she couldn’t go back to how she’d been acting, but she also knew she needed to find a way to keep some of it.

If only she could just take it on and off. Like a second personality or something.

One of the few things that stuck with her during this time were her handful of interactions with Charlotte Flair. The other girl still could make Sasha feel a bit uncomfortable. Maybe even more than in the past, it felt like she was X-raying Sasha each time she looked at her. Sasha even got the sense that the other was constantly comparing the two of them in her head, but why was beyond her. Flair had everything, Sasha didn’t.

Despite this, Sasha knew that they would be spending a lot more time around each other shortly. She’d set an arbitrary deadline in her mind of when she would actually call Ric and tell him she was signing. She told herself that she was just enjoying the free dinners in the meantime, and she did like them not just for the free part but the fact that Ric Flair was just very entertaining. But she also knew that she was being stupid. There was no reason to put it off any longer because she was sad about her missed chances.

The night before her the day she’d picked to tell Flair about her decision, Sasha was sprawled on her couch and staring at the cracked ceiling of her apartment. She’d taken a job delivering pizzas and she hated it even more than Chuck-E-Cheese. Now she not only was getting shit for money but she was wearing down her car. She was thinking she might just forget changing or even going to her actual bed when her phone started buzzing.

She was going to ignore but she’d asked a co-worker if she could pick up one of his shifts, and he might be calling her back. Without looking at the phone she picked it up and answered with a tired “Hello?”

“_ Am I speaking with Ms. Sasha Banks?” _an unfamiliar voice asked.

“Yeah,” she asked as she covered her eyes. She swore to god if this was some kind of sales call.

“_ My name is Teddy Long, and I was wondering if you had some time to talk to me about your future…” _

Sasha sat bolt upright.

The next day she called Ric Flair and told him about her decision.

\----------

“I signed with Teddy the next day, was on a plane by the end of the week…” Sasha finished her story. She had been idly stroking Bayley’s hair as she’d talked and continued to do so now as she lost herself in memories. 

“I didn’t even know I still had those pictures, I-” she started to say, but then she looked down and saw that Bayley was fast asleep. Sasha smiled at this and softly kissed the other woman’s forehead as she laid her head back. She was thinking that maybe she would show the photos to Ruby next time she was in Boston. But there was something else as well.

Maybe she would buy that damn Chuck-E-Cheese.

**Author's Note:**

> Progress is being made on the sequel friends, I promise! But for now, here's something else to tide you over!
> 
> Do us both a favor and bookmark the series so you don't miss anything!


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